Strakosha joins AEK Athens | OneFootball

Goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha has joined Greek side AEK Athens on a free transfer.

The 29-year-old signed for Brentford upon the expiry of his Lazio contract in 2022, having played 164 times in Serie A. He went on to make six appearances for the Bees.

Two of those came in the Premier League last season, as Strakosha was unfortunate to concede two late goals against Manchester United in a 2-1 defeat. He then replaced Mark Flekken at half-time of the 3-2 win against West Ham United in November 2023, when he kept a clean sheet in the second 45 minutes.

His other four appearances came in both the FA Cup and EFL Cup, when the west Londoners faced West Ham United, Colchester United and Wolves (twice).

Strakosha was a reliable deputy for, first, David Raya and then Flekken, as he was named on the bench by head coach Thomas Frank on 50 occasions.

Phil Giles, Brentford director of football, said: “On behalf of everyone at Brentford I’d like to thank Thomas for the two seasons he has been with us.

“Like any good player, he will have wanted to play a lot more games; being a substitute goalkeeper on a regular basis is arguably one of the toughest roles in football. We recognise this and therefore we are happy for Thomas to now leave to get back to starting games every week, which I’m sure he will do with AEK.

“We wish him well at his new club and he will always be a welcome visitor to Brentford in future.”

Strakosha will now head back to the city of his birth to play his football from next season onwards, having been born in Athens, the Greek capital.

However, the keeper represents Albania internationally and has 30 caps for the national side. He recently excelled in all three of their group games at Euro 2024 against Spain, Italy and Croatia; despite this, the Eagles didn’t qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

Strakosha’s father, Foto - also a goalkeeper - played for multiple Greek sides, as well as representing the Albanian national team, too.

AEK finished second in the Greek Super League last season and will feature in the Europa Conference League next term.